In defence of secular education

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In a message dated 96-09-10 10:20:15 EDT, 00kmvanooteg@bsuvc.bsu.edu writes:

<< 5)  Interesting, but all the Bible College literature that I have seen
make it a
 point to advertise the *secular education* achievements of their teaching
 faculty.  In fact, it appears that most prefer to have faculty that have
 earned advanced degrees.
 
 6)  As far as I know there are no UPC Bible Colleges that are accredited
 (someone please correct me if I am wrong).  Of course, you don't need
 accreditation to train ministers, etc. >>

Actually, the ONLY Bible college I've seen that makes it a point of
advertising their staff's "secular education" is that west coast school. <g>
 True, we mention those credentials in our catalog at IBC...but it's pretty
standard practice in a school catalog to mention ALL degrees earned.  Yes, of
course IBC and the other schools prefer faculty with advanced degrees, but
this holds true for SECULAR degrees or RELIGIOUS degrees.

As far as the accreditation thing...For the vast majority of people, DOES IT
MATTER?  Most of the colleges in the United States are NOT accredited.  The
old stand-by example is, of course, Harvard.  However, from a legal
standpoint a non-accredited degree from a legitimate college is NO LESS a
valid degree.  You can put it on resumes and applications and I assure you,
for most occupations, NOBODY will ask, "Was it accredited?"  Now there are a
few instances in which it would matter.  If you intend to go into public
education, for instance, the degree would need to be accredited.  If you
intend to get a government loan, it matters.  Now, though, even that is not
an issue since the UPC makes loans available to Bible college students.
 Bottom line:  For most students, accreditation would do very little to
enhance their degrees.

--Rich Brown